We chat with Imogen Dewey from Readings Carlton about Zadie Smith, Enid Blyton, and getting to meet Bernard from Black Books.

Why do you work in books?

I really love them. Reading is pretty essential to me. Helping people find the right thing is very satisfying and often very fun, whether it’s something they love, something new, or a gift for ‘someone who doesn’t like books’ (incidentally, there’s also a pleasingly large potential to enforce one’s taste on the general…

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We chat to Chris Rainier from Readings Hawthorn about 70s paperbacks, meeting Michael Palin and the alleged reading tastes of Great Danes.

Why do you work in books?

It’s just about the only way I can keep track of the avalanche of books, music and film that gets ceaselessly poured onto the world – and get paid for it! There’s always something new. It’s a working environment that never ceases to surprise.

What’s the best book you’ve read lately?

I…

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We chat to Jason Austin from Readings Carlton about chancing upon Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road, the appeal of morally ambiguous characters and not underestimating Young Adult fiction.

Why do you work in books?

I have always loved stories and although I love film too, books offer something very different. You create the author’s world in your head and that version of that world can differ greatly from that created by another person who has read the same book…

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We chat to Readings Carlton Manager Robbie Egan about how he came to be a bookseller, meeting Jim Shepard in a New York bookstore and his love of Don DeLillo’s White Noise.

Why do you work in books?

I was 25 years old with a young daughter and I’d been living in London for a couple of years and suddenly had responsibilities. The only thing I wanted to do was work in a bookshop. I loved reading and writing…

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We talk to Jessica Au, bookseller at Readings St Kilda, about her favourite books, life working in a bookshop and discovering her doppelgänger.

Why do you work in books?

I reasoned it thus: 1. I love books. 2. Bookshops stock books. Therefore, I will love bookshops. So far, the theory’s held good.

What’s the best book you’ve read lately and why?

Melanie Joosten’s Berlin Syndrome – tense, sharp and beautifully written. Her take on Stockholm Syndrome is incredibly deft, especially…

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We talk to the very lovely Dani Solomon, bookseller at Readings Carlton, about her favourite books, life working in a bookshop and the elusive ‘True Fiction’ section.

Why do you work in books?

It really is as simple as I love reading books, so what better place to work than a place that sells them?

What’s the best book you’ve read lately and why?

I really enjoyed Steve Hely’s How I Became a Famous Novelist. It appealed to my…

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